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David Fisher
David James Fisher is a fictional character played by Michael C. Hall on the HBO television series Six Feet Under. The character is the middle child of three and is a third-generation funeral director. Initially, the character is portrayed as socially conservative (and possibly politically so), dutiful to his family, emotionally repressed and conflicted about his homosexuality. Over the course of the series, he faces struggles and triumphs both personally and professionally. His most significant challenges are related to keeping his funeral home in business, navigating his relationship with Keith Charles, surviving being carjacked, and coping with the death of his father. By the show's end, he reconciles his religious beliefs, personal goals and homosexuality, and he and Keith settle down. They adopt two children: eight-year-old Anthony and twelve-year-old Durrell. The series finale and official HBO website indicate that Keith is murdered in a robbery in 2029, and that David at some point finds companionship with Raoul Martinez, with whom he remains until his death at the age of 75. Among critics, David Fisher has been cited as the first realistic portrayal of a gay lead male character on television and is popularly regarded as one of the most beloved characters of the series. Michael C. Hall was widely praised for his portrayal of the character, and was nominated for and won major awards as a result.[ Character Conception The show's creator, Alan Ball, says he based the characters Nate, Claire and David on himself. Of David, he said "I'm like David in that for years I tried to do everything right, as if that would some way redeem me."[3] When he first conceived the characters, in one interview he said, "David was just always gay. He was the brother who was 'the best little boy in the world' who did everything to please everybody, and that's such a classic gay thing."[4] Jeremy Sisto (who played Billy Chenowith) and Peter Krause (Nate Fisher) both originally auditioned for the role of David.[5] However, director Sam Mendes had just finished working with Hall on the Broadway show Cabaret, and called him one day at noon to invite him to audition for the role that evening.[6] Ball (who had worked with Mendes on the film American Beauty) said that, after four days of auditions "Hall started reading, and I just saw the character come to life. And it was David." 'Character Background ' David is the second son (four years younger than Nate and 14 years older than Claire) of Nathaniel Sr. and Ruth Fisher. They are owner and operators of Fisher & Sons Funeral Home, which Nathaniel Sr. inherited from his own father. Some years prior to the pilot episode, David abandoned his desire to become a lawyer and, instead, went to mortuary school to assist his father with the business. These decisions cause him to resent his older brother who left home at 17 and only visits for major holidays. David's relationship with his mother is affectionate, but his relationship with his father is conflicted.[8] His father's death in the show’s pilot episode brings their unresolved issues to the fore. David is in many ways conservative (more so than either of his siblings) and he was even a Young Republican in college. Although he began to suspect he was gay in childhood, Season 3 reveals that he spent "ten years" dating women,[9] going as far as to get engaged to a woman named Jennifer Mason.[10] Their relationship ended when David revealed he was gay, but he still remained closeted about his homosexuality. In the pilot, he is in a several-month long relationship with an African-American police officer named Keith Charles whom he met at a gay-friendly church.[11]